Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/155

Rh race, frequently referred to as "the people who are to come" or the like. The chief characters in the opening stories are the creator, Kumush, and a great hero, Isis, who after his birth is re-born, somewhat after the manner of Dionysos, from Kumush's knee. Kumush, as is generally the case with savage creators, goes away when his work is done (p. 45). Natural forces play a large part in these and later myths, and are conceived as vaguely human and anthropomorphic. The same applies to the various animals, several myths ending with a curse on some species to the effect that they shall "not be people any more." As usual in such cases, the inconsistencies are glaring. Thus (p. 243), the daughter of Lok, the bear, rejects the attentions of Wus, the fox, because the latter, although in human form, has hairy, i.e. animal, feet. It is a fresh example of the hopelessness of trying to make a sharp distinction between anthropomorphic and theriomorphic strata in primitive myth or religion. Several of the nature myths are also instructive, as they are by no means mere allegories of natural phenomena. Thus, the second tale gives an account of a character called Gáukos (Moon) who runs away from his sister (? Day), but meets en route with a number of adventures which it would be hopeless to try to identify with any actual phenomena connected with the moon. Several times the animals, on the other hand, display characteristics which suggest close connection with the heavenly bodies; e.g. it is a bear devouring the moon which causes it to wane (p. 82). Several interesting myths deal not with the creation but the modification of natural phenomena; e.g. (pp. 60 et seq.) the comparative mildness of the weather at present is accounted for by the killing of five out of the ten Sun-brethren,—five is a mystic number and has a magical or religious significance in several passages. P. 77, the same or a similar result is achieved by the slaying of the North and South winds, leaving only their spirits. The latter, however, are invariably conceived of as differing comparatively little from the living person.

A number of familiar folk-tale themes appear, such as the clever youngest brother or sister (passim), the swan-maiden (p. 127), and the powers of the name or the word in general. Some are rather less well-worn; e.g. on pp. 139-140 a variant of the external soul is found in the case of a fox-hero who leaves his body behind,